With the rapid developments in aircraft technology, ever-increasing flight envelopes, and overall performance, the flight control systems implemented in modern aircraft have become extremely complex. Advanced flight control systems have therefore been developed to address various aircraft characteristics such as flight performance, fuel efficiency, safety, etc. A primary flight control system on a modern aircraft typically includes a complex set of components including pilot controls, aircraft sensors, electronic processors, electronic wiring or data buses, actuators, and control surfaces. Unfortunately, as the primary flight control system increases in complexity, the aircraft may be increasingly vulnerable to a system fault or processor failure.
One type of failure monitored in aircraft is fatigue failure due to oscillations on the surfaces of the aircraft. The requirements for oscillation monitoring may be very complex, with varying threshold amplitude at different frequencies. A typical oscillation monitor employs digital filters and must be heavily tuned to the specific requirements of the design.
These typical oscillatory monitors are often very complex and may require a mathematical model of the monitored system to generate a fault-indicating signal. Multiple monitoring structures & filters are typically required to cover the entire frequency range of interest. The digital filters often create additional difficulties as the digital filters may cause linear distortions and attenuation of the monitored signal. Furthermore, existing oscillation monitors are typically heavily tuned to a specific requirements curve and failure mode, and therefore may not be easily adapted to a different environment or application.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an oscillation monitoring solution that does not rely on digital filters. In addition, it is desirable to provide an oscillation monitoring solution that is robust and readily adaptable to various requirement curves and failure modes. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.